Cape's elusive, beachy fruit a sweet draw for u-pickers

The beach plum pickers, a secretive bunch, are disappearing into the underbrush all over Cape Cod. There's fruit afoot, a juicy turn of events that is by no means an annual occurrence.

ERIC WILLIAMS and JASON KOLNOS

The beach plum pickers, a secretive bunch, are disappearing into the underbrush all over Cape Cod. There's fruit afoot, a juicy turn of events that is by no means an annual occurrence.

"I went down to pick on Sunday, and I had one of those OMG moments," said Susan Lott of Sandwich, who has been harvesting beach plums for 60 years. "There were so many beach plums, and they were just gorgeous. Bushes on the hillside are just covered with them, loaded with them."

Those on the jam and jelly end of wild beach plums might think the purple orbs roll out of the dunes on command, ready to be squashed and sugared and spread on toast. But it's not that easy.

"The supply is unreliable," William Clark, Cape Cod Cooperative Extension director and beach plum aficionado, said. "About one out of three years we have a decent crop."

This year's crop seems to be a good one, and ripe beach plums are appearing earlier than usual, perhaps aided by good spring weather during the plant's pollination time, he said.

The fortuitous fruiting can mean money for lucky pickers. The Green Briar Jam Kitchen in East Sandwich is paying $1.50 per pound for beach plums.

But before you start spending your newfound beach plum fortune, consider these somewhat sour facts: They can be hard to find and often share space with the Cape's buzzkill twins, poison ivy and ticks.

Aspiring pickers might get lucky at Sandy Neck Beach Park in West Barnstable.

"We have quite a few stands of beach plum. A lot of people come out here and pick so you've got to find your stand early," park manager Nina Coleman said.

The public is allowed to take their buckets to Sandy Neck and search for the unpredictable plums as long as they notify staff first. The bushes grow right out of the sand even in dry, high-elevation areas, Coleman said.

The hit-or-miss productivity of wild beach plums begs the question: Can't they be corralled by science and farmed in an orderly, prolific manner?

"If there was a way it probably would have been done by now," said Stan Ingram, field manager at Coonamessett Farm in East Falmouth. "I don't know if anybody's gotten the magic formula for that yet."

Ingram was standing in what may be the Cape's only beach plum orchard, in a back field at Coonamessett. About 120 beach plum bushes stretched behind him in orderly rows, some heavy with fruit.

The orchard was planted about 15 years ago, part of a cooperative effort involving the farm, Cornell University and the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension to glean information on possible commercial beach plum cultivation. But the wily beach plum doesn't give up secrets easily.

"This year, I would say is probably one of our better crops," said Ingram. "And why that is, is anybody's guess."